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The Science Behind Why Power Naps Help You Stay Productive and Creative

Even if you don't work in a job where napping is acceptable, there's a very clear reason why the best naps are the ones that are usually around the half-hour mark.

The video above, from ASAP Science (worth subscribing to on YouTube if you dig videos like this) explains how sleep cycles work, and how power naps—or those naps that do the most to boost cognitive function during the day—take advantage of the first two phases of your sleep cycle: stage one, where you're probably "dozing," or feel relaxed but if someone woke you you probably wouldn't even notice you'd been asleep, and stage two, where your brain starts to consolidate memories, organize its biological bookshelves, and shuts the brain off from external, non-dangerous stimuli. If you're the type who says "It takes me 10 minutes just to fall asleep," that 10 minutes is probably leading you into stage one—after that, you're in stage two. The trouble comes in stage three, or the part where we're sleeping deeply, and waking is difficult. That's when you start to feel groggy, and hate the idea of getting up. If you hate mornings, you're probably waking up during this phase. So the key to getting all of the benefits of naps without the drawbacks is to sleep only for about a half-hour, or the time it takes your brain to go through the first two stages, but not enter the third.

Five things you may want to know about buddhify 1. buddhify has been designed as a solution to the problem that there is a lot of interest in mindfulness-based meditation nowadays but most of the ways its taught are still stuck in the 20th century 2. buddhify is made by a team who are both properly experienced in traditional meditation and properly knowledgable about technology, innovation and understanding what people really want 3. buddhify aims to start a new wave of authentic modern translations of classic contemplative traditions, so if you don't like it please do make something better. Really 4. Over and above the many good and great meditation teachers who have influenced the app, the perhaps more surprising inspirations behind buddhify are Ira Glass of This American Life, Jad Abumrad of Radiolab, the late Steve Jobs and the emerging culture of urban and pro-social gaming represented by people like Hide&Seek and Jane McGonigal 5. buddhify is called buddhify because a) it's a cute name and b) it's a grateful nod to the roots of mindfulness-based meditation in Buddhism. However the app is for anyone with an interest in developing their mental wellbeing and is not interesting in pushing any particular belief system, religious or otherwise

Remember More Without Trying Too Hard

Memory is a tricky beast. You might sit and study for hours on end, but for some reason it never seems to stick with you. However, as Time points out, implicit learning relies on three factors that are easy to control.

You'll need to do three things when studying or learning a new skill: Give your mind a ton of material: This might seem obvious, but immersing yourself completely in what you're trying to learn is the first step to actually learning it. You don't have to actively try to memorize things, just expose yourself to the skill or material as much as possible. Practice: We tend to stop practicing a skill or stop studying when we think "we've got it." However, well after we learn something we still continue to refine that skill. Sleep: It's thought that sleep is essential to learning and remembering. Some studies have suggested that the brain identifies patterns in our memories and consolidates them to make them permanent when we're sleeping. In essence, a good night of rest might be better than an all-night study-fest.

Brew the Best Possible Coffee Without Breaking the Bank

Consider yourself forewarned however, once you begin brewing better coffee it becomes increasingly difficult to go back to enjoying crappy coffee.

Nearly all the coffee in the world comes from two types of coffee plants: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica has roughly half the amount of caffeine and a more mellow taste. Robusta has more caffeine and higher acidic content which creates a significantly more bitter flavor.

You Could Be Better at Remembering Names, If Only You Gave a Shit

ome people are more tuned in to personal relationships—like politicians or teachers—and they're more apt to be good at remembering people's names because they're have an interest in remembering them. But for the rest of us, we may just simply not be that engaged when we meet someone.

With over 3,300 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and hundreds of skills to practice, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. Cosmopolitanism may entail some sort of world government or it may simply refer to more inclusive moral, economic, and/or political relationships between nations or individuals of different nations. A person who adheres to the idea of cosmopolitanism in any of its forms is called a cosmopolitan or cosmopolite.[1] A cosmopolitan community might be based on an inclusive morality, a shared economic relationship, or a political structure that encompasses different nations. In its more positive versions, the cosmopolitan community is one in which individuals from different places (e.g. nation-states) form relationships of mutual respect. As an example, Kwame Anthony Appiah suggests the possibility of a cosmopolitan community in which individuals from varying locations (physical, economic, etc.) enter relationships of mutual respect despite their differing beliefs (religious, political, etc.).[2]

Cosmopolitanism can be traced back to Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412 B.C.), the founding father of the Cynic movement in Ancient Greece. Of Diogenes it is said: "Asked where he came from, he answered: 'I am a citizen of the world (kosmopolitês)'".[3] This was a ground-breaking concept, because the broadest basis of social identity in Greece at that time was either the individual city-state or the Greeks (Hellenes) as a group.

In his 1795 essay Perpetual Peace, Immanuel Kant stages a ius cosmopoliticum (cosmopolitan law/right) as a guiding principle to protect people from war, and morally grounds this cosmopolitan right by the principle of universal hospitality. Kant there claimed that the expansion of hospitality with regard to "use of the right to the earth's surface which belongs to the human race in common" (see common heritage of humanity) would "finally bring the human race ever closer to a cosmopolitan constitution".[6]